About

This is a sewing blog. And a dressmaking and pattern cutting blog. And it is probably going to be the home of the confessions of a fabric addict. It is definitely the home of a sewaholic! I love making things, be they sewing related or baking. Sewing gives me huge satisfaction & I love making clothes for my girls.

Initially this blog was to be all about pattern cutting & no commercial pattern use was to dare grace its hallowed pages. Yeah, that just doesn’t work in real life! I hope the main focus will still be me sketching & creating my own patterns, especially as all the people I make for have their own figure quirks, but I am certainly not above using commercial patterns. I have also been making clothes from vintage patterns, both for my girls and for sale. To see those makes, please visit my dedicated vintage making blog, Vintage Belle.

All patterns made by me will be from blocks generated mostly from Winnifred Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting, and the Menswear book. For a long time I have used Burdastyle and now am using Kollobora. To see what is inspiring me, pop onto Pinterest. You can also find me on Instagram, not all photos are sewing related.

I have been sewing since I left high school (an awful long time ago now!) and it’s the one hobby I have never dropped. I have taken various City & Guild’s sewing/fashion and teaching courses & even taught in the Lifelong Learning Departments at a couple of local colleges. If you’re interested in learning how to sew, or just need a hand with a project, please visit my Handmade Classes page.

You can also email me on handmade-1 [at] live [dot] co [dot] uk.

Please do not copy my text or images, that’s photographs and sketches, without my permission. You can link back to any content on the site, but please respect the copyright of the referenced links I have used. Thanks for stopping by!

HI, I’ve just found your blog and I’m really excited! I’m very new to sewing but I’m already addicted! I’m so excited that you say that you make your own patterns from a block as this is exactly what I want to learn to do. In fact I’ve just started up my own blog to follow my journey (www.sleeksilhouette.com) I want to be able to make what I see in my head, and not be restricted by patterns. Fingers crossed I can be as successful and creative as you!
xx

All the best! Sewing is fab, and completely addictive! If you can find a City & Guilds pattern cutting course at a local college, you will be on the right track pretty quickly. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!